Cedar Valley News – October 13, 2025

Evan Swensen
October 13, 2025

This morning, while many Americans debate what today should be called, Cedar Valley will keep to the truth of what it is: Columbus Day—a day to honor a man who dared to cross an ocean when the world’s edges were still unknown. President Trump’s proclamation reminds the nation that Christopher Columbus “changed the course of human history,” and that courage, faith, and vision remain the foundations of exploration itself. In an age when heroes are redefined and history is rewritten, Columbus still stands as a symbol of what happens when conviction overcomes fear.

Columbus’s voyages opened the door to a new world, not only geographically but in spirit. His name has been twisted by modern retellings, but the record shows a man driven by belief—deeply convinced he was an instrument in God’s hand. In his Book of Prophecies, Columbus wrote that his purpose had been “wrought by the hand of the Almighty” and that the Spirit had stirred him to carry the gospel to distant shores. Whatever flaws time has revealed, his faith was not in conquest but in calling.

That distinction matters now more than ever. To understand Columbus as a man of vision rather than vilification is not to deny the sorrows that followed in the centuries after. It is to teach that history’s great figures are not perfect, but purposeful. The discovery he achieved began a chain of civilization, faith, and progress that shaped the very soil on which our churches, schools, and homes now stand.

Here in Cedar Valley, we would do well to restore that sense of gratitude. Parents can retell the story at the dinner table—not as myth, but as heritage. Teachers can speak of Columbus not only as an explorer but as an example of human perseverance guided by faith. Ministers can remind congregations that discovery itself can be holy work when the motive is righteous. The same spirit that moved Columbus to launch into an unknown sea can move us to chart moral courage in uncertain times.

Our children must learn that courage is not arrogance, that discovery begins in the heart before it reaches the horizon, and that faith has always been the first compass. Columbus’s journey reminds us: the map of human progress was drawn by those who prayed before they sailed.

Let today not be about grievance but gratitude—for a man who believed he was part of something greater than himself, and for a nation that still draws strength from those who dare to go beyond the known.

This editorial is part of the fictional Cedar Valley News series. While the people and town are fictional, the national events they reflect on are real.

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